Purchase Adds to Provinces Land Base

Government is acquiring 3,242 hectares of productive forestry land in western Nova Scotia.

The land, which is being purchased from Freeman and Son Limited of Greenfield, Queens Co., at market value for $3.6 million, also supports outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing.

The purchase involves 19 blocks of land in Kings, Lunenburg, Shelburne, Queens, and Annapolis counties.

“In Nova Scotia, we always need to be looking for ways to increase our Crown land base,” said Natural Resources Minister Lloyd Hines. “Nova Scotians benefit from having more ownership of the province’s best assets – its land.”

Of the 5.3 million hectares of land in Nova Scotia, about one-third is owned by the province, compared to the rest of Canada where 50 per cent to more than 90 per cent of land is government owned. Nova Scotia’s Crown land base is smaller than all other provinces, except Prince Edward Island.

The Department of Natural Resources acquires land to support government priorities such as rural economic development, land protection and conservation, increasing coastal and waterfront access and improving the lives of Nova Scotians through outdoor recreation opportunities.

For over a decade, buying land from forestry companies has been an effective way for government to acquire productive land across Nova Scotia.

Freeman and Son Limited is required to pay all proceeds of the sale to Nova Scotia Business Inc. to pay down debt owed to the province.